


from ear to ear

by Highsmith (quimtessence)



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Angst, Character Study, Dysfunctional Family, Gen, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Internalized Homophobia, Period-Typical Homophobia, Siblings, Victim Blaming
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-20
Updated: 2019-04-20
Packaged: 2020-01-20 18:57:30
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 300
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18531136
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/quimtessence/pseuds/Highsmith
Summary: They blame each other for the move to Hawkins. It doesn't have to make sense for it to be real.





	from ear to ear

**Author's Note:**

> This is a pretty accurate representation of my own personal headcanon regarding the move to Hawkins and why Max and Billy seem to be blaming each other.
> 
> Title from "The Tears" by Robots in Disguise.
> 
> Please mind the tags, my lovelies.

They blame each other for the move to Hawkins. It doesn't have to make sense for it to be real.

Billy hasn't turned seventeen yet when the shit hits the proverbial fan. It's all a blurry mess in his head now: the boy, Neil's livid face, Max's guilt, the visit to the emergency room, _the pain_.

It's vague enough in Neil's memory, Billy figures, after Susan's silent support and the few seeds of doubt she plants, for Billy to manage to successfully talk himself out of something worse. _It was all a misunderstanding._ But Susan doesn't quite look at him in the same way afterwards, and Billy's too fucking scared to ask whether it's because of him, of Max or of Neil. One day, he might.

As far as Billy's concerned, it's on Max. He's not being subjective. It's not easy to be anything other than frank with yourself through the pain. Sometimes, he can even believe she knows it. Guilt does strange things to people. He _knows_ she blames him for being the way he is. That's just fucking fine. Hell, he blames himself for it, too. They would never have moved away from her little friends had Billy been _normal_.

One day, he's going to say the words. _You told Neil. You told him what I was doing, with whom, out of spite. You played a kids' game when there was nothing childlike about it. It's all on you, sweetheart._ But that's for a day that isn't today or tomorrow. It's not easy to get anything out past the anger.

Billy's never wanted a sister, but he has one now. So he drives her around Hawkins, Indiana, and watches her make the best of a life that she's never asked for, and thinks, _We probably deserve each other._


End file.
